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{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2013}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2013}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Sarla Behn
| image = Sarala Behn.jpg
| image_size =
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| birth_name =
| birth_date = April 5, 1901
| birth_place = [[Shepherd's Bush]], [[England]], [[United Kingdom]]
| death_date = July 8, 1982
| death_place = Dharamgarh, [[Pithoragarh district]], [[Uttar Pradesh]] (present-day [[Uttarakhand]], [[India]])
| death_cause =
| other_names = Catherine Mary Heilman
| known_for = follower of Gandhi and key role in the [[Chipko Movement]]
| education =
| employer =
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| children =
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| nationality = [[United Kingdom]]
}}
'''Sarala Behn''' (born '''Catherine Mary Heilman'''; 5 April 1901{{spaced ndash}}8 July 1982) was an English [[Gandhian Movement|Gandhian social activist]] whose work in the [[Kumaon division|Kumaon region]] of [[Uttarakhand]], [[India]] helped create awareness about the environmental destruction in the Himalayan forests of the state. She played a key role in the evolution of the [[Chipko movement|Chipko Movement]] and influenced a number of Gandhian environmentalists in India including [[Chandi Prasad Bhatt]], Bimala behn and [[Sunderlal Bahuguna]]. Along with [[Mirabehn]], she is known as one of [[Mahatma Gandhi]]'s two English daughters. The two women's work in [[Garhwal division|Garhwal]] and [[Kumaon division|Kumaon]], respectively, played a key role in bringing focus on issues of [[environmental degradation]] and conservation in [[independent India]].<ref name="tribuneindia">{{cite news|title=Sarala Behn remembered|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120406/dun.htm#15|access-date=29 May 2013|newspaper=The Tribune|date=5 April 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Indian Women Freedom Fighters|journal=Bhavan Australia|date=August 2009|volume=7|issue=2|page=15|url=http://www.bhavanaustralia.org/Bhavan%20Australia%2072/Bhavan%20Australia%2072.pdf|access-date=29 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150721164717/http://www.bhavanaustralia.org/Bhavan%20Australia%2072/Bhavan%20Australia%2072.pdf|archive-date=21 July 2015|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Katz|first=Eric|title=Beneath the surface: critical essays in the philosophy of deep ecology|year=2000|publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology|page=251|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=srjEb3fZUBQC&q=sarala&pg=PA251|isbn=9780262611497}}</ref><ref name="home.moravian">{{cite journal|last=Shiva|first=Vandana|title=THE EVOLUTION, STRUCTURE, AND IMPACT OF THE CHIPKO MOVEMENT|journal=Ecospirit|volume=II|issue=4|url=http://home.moravian.edu/public/relig/ecoSpirit/issues/Vol2No4.pdf|access-date=29 May 2013}}</ref>

== Early life ==
Sarla Behn, was born Catherine Mary Heilman in the [[Shepherd's Bush]] region of west [[London]] in 1901 to a father of [[German-speaking Switzerland|German Swiss]] extraction and an English mother. Due to his background, her father was interned during the [[First World War]] and Catherine herself suffered ostracism and was denied scholarships at school; she left early. She worked for a while as a clerk, leaving her family and home and during the 1920s came in contact with Indian students in [[mannady]] who introduced her to Gandhi and the [[Indian freedom struggle|freedom struggle in India]]. Inspired, she left [[England]] for India in January 1932, never to return again.<ref name="freeofstate">{{cite web|title=SARALA BEHN|url=http://freeofstate.org/?p=50|access-date=29 May 2013}}</ref><ref name="jamnalalbajajfoundation">{{cite web|title=Sushri Sarala Devi|url=http://www.jamnalalbajajfoundation.org/media/pdf/JBA_1979_Bio_Sarala_Devi.pdf|publisher=Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation|access-date=7 June 2013}}</ref>

== Life with Gandhi ==
She worked for a while at a school in [[Udaipur]] before moving on to meet Gandhi with whom she remained for eight years at his [[ashram]] at [[Sevagram]] in [[Wardha]]. Here she was deeply involved in Gandhi's idea of ''[[nai talim]]'' or basic education and worked to empower women and protect the environment at Sevagram. It was Gandhi who named her Sarla Behn.<ref name="tribuneindia" /><ref>''Behn'' means ''sister'' in Hindi. It is usual to call women that way in India.</ref><ref name="orissa">{{cite journal|last=Dash|first=Siddhartha|title=Role of Women in India's Struggle For Freedom|journal=Orissa Review|date=August 2010|page=76|url=http://orissa.gov.in/e-magazine/Orissareview/2010/August/engpdf/74-76.pdf|access-date=29 May 2013}}</ref> The heat and bouts of [[malaria]] afflicted her at Sevagram and with Gandhi’s concurrence she headed out to the more salubrious climes of [[Kausani]] in the [[Almora district]] of the [[United Provinces (1937–1950)|United Provinces]] in 1940. She made it her home, establishing an ashram and working to empower the women of the hills in Kumaon.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ganesh|first=Kamala|title=Culture and the Making of Identity in Contemporary India|year=2005|publisher=Sage Publications|location=New Delhi|page=149|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=liUX5D8CiyUC&q=sarla+behn&pg=PA150|isbn=9780761933076}}</ref>

While in Kumaon Sarla Behn continued to associate herself with the cause of India’s freedom movement. In 1942, in response to the [[Quit India Movement]] launched by the [[Indian National Congress]] under Gandhi, she helped organise and lead the movement in the Kumaon district. She travelled extensively in the region reaching out to the families of [[political prisoners]] and was imprisoned for her actions. She served two terms in prison during the Quit India Movement for violation of [[house arrest]] orders and served time at the [[Almora]] and [[Lucknow]] jails for nearly two years.<ref name="freeofstate" /><ref>{{cite web|title=A WOMAN OF COURAGE (ENGLISH VIII - STANDARD)|url=https://archive.org/stream/std08english2011tnbooks/std08english2011tnbooks_djvu.txt|publisher=Government of Tamil Nadu|access-date=29 May 2013}}</ref>

== Lakshmi Ashram ==
[[file:View of snow-peaks of Himalayas.jpg|thumb|View of the Himalayas from Lakshmi Ashram]]
During her political activism in Kumaon, Sarla Behn was deeply impressed by the determination and resourcefulness of the women heading the families of the arrested independence activists but dismayed at their absence of self-worth when in response to her call for meetings they responded "Behnji, we are like animals. All we know is work, Meetings and other such social activities are meant only for men."<ref name="manushi-india">{{cite journal|title=A Woman with Rocklike Determination|journal=Manushi|date=May–June 1992|issue=70|page=13|url=http://www.manushi-india.org/pdfs_issues/PDF%20files%2070/interview_with_vimla_bahuguna.pdf|access-date=29 May 2013}}</ref> She then set to work to make them realise that they were not passive animals but rather [[Lakshmi|"goddesses of wealth"]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Ganesh|first=Kamala|title=Culture and the Making of Identity in Contemporary India|year=2005|publisher=Sage Publications|location=New Delhi|page=150|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=liUX5D8CiyUC&q=sarla+behn&pg=PA150|isbn=9780761933076}}</ref>

This she aimed to achieve through the Kasturba Mahila Utthan Mandal, Lakshmi Ashram, Kausani, an institution she founded in 1946 with the aim of fostering women's empowerment.<ref name="manushi-india" /> It was named the Lakshmi Ashram after the wife of the donor of the land.<ref name="lakshmiashram">{{cite journal|title=NEWS FROM LAKSHMI ASHRAM|journal=Sanchar|date=March 2010|issue=108|pages=2, 6|url=http://lakshmiashram.dk/sanchars/sanchar_108e.pdf|access-date=29 May 2013}}</ref> The ashram which began with only three students imparted education to girls through the Gandhian idea of ''nai talim'' with its focus on not just academics but also on manual labour and holistic learning. Since its inception, the Ashram has produced several notable reformers and social workers including [[Vimala Bahuguna]], [[Sadan Misra]], [[Radha Bhatt]] and <ref>{{cite web|title=Nayee Taleem- A Method of Teaching Enunciated by Mahatma Gandhi|url=http://www.arvindguptatoys.com/arvindgupta/Nayee_Taleem.htm|access-date=29 May 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Frank Sure Success in CBSE English Core (Reading, Writing and Literature)|year=2008|publisher=Franksons|location=New Delhi|page=PM-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ktqpnkt3UccC&q=sarla+behn&pg=PT16|isbn=9788184097528}}</ref> [[Basanti Devi]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=2016-03-09|title=President Pranab Mukherjee presented 2015 Nari Shakti awards|url=https://www.jagranjosh.com/current-affairs/president-pranab-mukherjee-presented-2015-nari-shakti-awards-1457494302-1|access-date=2020-07-07|website=Jagranjosh.com}}</ref>

== Activism ==
Although Sarla Behn is best remembered for her role as an environmental activist who helped shape and spearhead the Chipko movement, she was also associated with the [[Gandhian Movement|Gandhian movements]] led by [[Acharya Vinoba Bhave]] and [[Jai Prakash Narayan]]. After she had handed over the reins of the Ashram to Radha Bhatt, she worked with Bhave on the [[Bhoodan movement]] in [[Bihar]] in the late 1960s and with Narayan and the families of surrendered dacoits in the [[Chambal River|Chambal river valley]] in the early 1970s.<ref name="freeofstate" /><ref name="jamnalalbajajfoundation" />

Sarla Behn’s role as an environmental activist was even greater, and together with Mirabehn she helped shape a response to the environmental crisis engulfing the Himalayan region. As the activist-academician [[Vandana Shiva]] notes, "While the philosophical and conceptual articulation of the ecological view of the Himalayan forests has been done by Mirabehn and [Sunderlal] Bahuguna, the organisational foundation for it being a women’s movement was laid by Sarla Behn with Bimla Behn in Garhwal and Radha Bhatt in Kumaon".<ref>{{cite book|last=Shiva|first=Vandana|title=Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and Development|year=1989|publisher=Kali for Women|location=New Delhi|page=71|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GPaA4Nb0w0YC&q=sarala+behn&pg=PA72|isbn=0862328233}}</ref>

Under Sarla Behn's guidance the Uttarakhand Sarvodaya Mandal came into being in 1961 with principal aims of organising women, fighting [[alcoholism]], establishing forest based [[Small Scale Industry|small scale industries]] and fighting for forest rights. Throughout the 1960s the Mandal and its members worked actively towards these ends. In the wake of the [[Stockholm Conference|Stockholm Conference of 1972]], Sarla Behn initiated the Chipko Movement which began with a popular demonstration in the [[Yamuna River|Yamuna valley]] at a site where colonial authorities had shot dead several activists in the 1930s for protesting against the commercialisation of forests.<ref>{{cite book|last=Haberman|first=David|title=River of love in an age of pollution: the Yamuna River of northern India|year=2006|publisher=University of California Press|page=69|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=63uDsPPr48gC&q=sarla+behn&pg=PA69|isbn=0520247892}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Bahuguna|first=Sunderlal|title=CHIPKO: THE PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT WITH A HOPE FOR THE SURVIVAL OF HUMANKIND|journal=IFDA Dossier|date=January–February 1988|issue=63|page=6|url=http://www.dhf.uu.se/ifda/readerdocs/pdf/doss_63.pdf|access-date=29 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090702124732/http://www.dhf.uu.se/ifda/readerdocs/pdf/doss_63.pdf|archive-date=2 July 2009|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The term 'Chipko' (which means to hug) came to be associated with the movement only later after the villagers decided they would hug the trees to prevent them from being felled and the name was popularised through the folk songs of [[Ghanshyam Sailani]]. In 1977, Sarla Behn helped organise activists and consolidate the Chipko movement in its resistance to [[lumbering]] and excessive tapping of [[resin]] from the [[pine trees]].<ref name="home.moravian" /><ref>{{cite web|title=4 The chipko movement|url=http://archive.unu.edu/unupress/unupbooks/80a03e/80A03E08.htm|publisher=United Nations University|access-date=29 May 2013}}</ref>

Sarla Behn was a prolific author, writing 22 books in [[Hindi]] and English on issues of conservation, women's empowerment and environment including ''Reviving Our Dying Planet'' and ''A Blueprint for Survival of the Hills''.<ref name="tribuneindia" /><ref name="orissa" /><ref name="fao">{{cite web|last=Shukla|first=Surinder K|title=FORESTS FOR THE PEOPLE: HEGEMONY OF GOVERNANCE|url=http://www.fao.org/docrep/ARTICLE/WFC/XII/0420-B1.HTM|publisher=FAO|access-date=29 May 2013}}</ref> Her [[autobiography]] is titled ''A Life in Two Worlds: Autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi's English Disciple''.<ref>{{cite web|title=A Life in Two Worlds: Autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi's English Disciple [paperback]|url=http://angwal.in/books/literature-language-2/|access-date=29 May 2013}}</ref>

== Death and commemoration ==
In 1975 Sarala Behn moved to a cottage at Dharamgarh in [[Pithoragarh district]] where she lived until her death in July, 1982. She was cremated according to [[Hindu rites]] at the Lakshmi Ashram.<ref name="lakshmiashram_a">{{cite journal|title=NEWS FROM LAKSHMI ASHRAM|journal=Samachar|date=November 2011|issue=113|pages=7–12|url=http://lakshmiashram.dk/sanchars/Sanchar113e.pdf|access-date=29 May 2013}}</ref> She was a winner of the [[Jamnalal Bajaj Award]]<ref>{{cite web|title=1979 : Outstanding Contribution in Constructive Work|url=http://www.jamnalalbajajfoundation.org/awards/archives/1979/constructive-work/sarla-devi|publisher=Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation|access-date=7 June 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Shukla|first=A K|title=Women Chief Ministers in Contemporary India|year=2007|publisher=A P H Publishers|location=New Delhi|page=17|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NMocKFODKxkC&q=%22catherine+mary+heilman%22&pg=PA17|isbn=978-8131301517}}</ref> and on the occasion of her 75th birthday called the "daughter of the [[Himalaya]]" and the "mother of social activism" in Uttarakhand.<ref name="fao" /><ref>{{cite book|last=Sontheimer|first=Sally|title=Women and the Environment: a Reader: Crisis and Development in the Third World|year=1991|publisher=Earthscan Publications|location=London|page=172|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=phwk6dmU-i8C&q=sarala+behn&pg=PA172|isbn=1853831115}}</ref>

Ever since her death, the Lakshmi Ashram commemorates her anniversary by hosting a gathering of [[Sarvodaya]] workers and community members to discuss and chalk out strategies for dealing with pressing social and environmental issues.<ref name="lakshmiashram" /> In 2006, the [[Government of Uttarakhand]] announced that it would set up a Sarla Behn Memorial Museum in Kausani.<ref name="lakshmiashram_a" />

== Legacy ==
Sarla Behn's influence on Uttarakhand in particular and Indian environmentalism has been significant although she remains a relatively unknown figure. She played a key role in inspiring grassroots organisations in Uttarakahand and helped spread the Sarvodaya movement in the state.<ref name="lakshmiashram_a" /> Besides several environmentalists, she also influenced the author [[William McKay Aitken|Bill Aitken]].<ref>{{cite news|title=The Sufi Scotsman|url=http://www.outlookindia.com/printarticle.aspx?201134|access-date=29 May 2013|newspaper=Outlook|date=3 April 1996}}</ref> Her activism and the ashram she established helped, as the historian [[Ramachandra Guha]] notes, "groom a new generation of social workers, among them such remarkable activists as Chandi Prasad Bhatt, Radha Bhatt and Sunderlal Bahuguna. In the 1970s, these activists started the Chipko Movement, while in turn training the next generation of activists, those who led the movement for a state of Uttarakhand."<ref>{{cite news|title=In Hume's footsteps|url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/ColumnsOthers/In-Hume-s-footsteps/Article1-834498.aspx|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120406152506/http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/ColumnsOthers/In-Hume-s-footsteps/Article1-834498.aspx|url-status=dead|archive-date=6 April 2012|access-date=29 May 2013|newspaper=Hindustan Times|date=2 April 2012}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}
{{Gandhi|state=collapsed}}
{{Jamnalal Bajaj Award winners}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Behn, Sarla}}
[[Category:Gandhians]]
[[Category:Non-Indian Gandhians]]
[[Category:1901 births]]
[[Category:1982 deaths]]
[[Category:Indian independence activists from Uttarakhand]]
[[Category:People from Shepherd's Bush]]
[[Category:British emigrants to India]]
[[Category:Indian environmentalists]]
[[Category:Women Indian independence activists]]
[[Category:British women activists]]
[[Category:Indian women environmentalists]]

Sarla Behn - Revision history

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